Link Bait

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About this comic

If you know anything about me, it’s that I like a good pun. Or even a bad pun. I welcome all puns. They make me smile. They make me take life a little less seriously. They take me to a place in my youth where I was doodling this kind of thing constantly. And I regret none of it.

Link bait is content on your site to which other sites link because they want to, not because you ask them to. Traditionally, links are hard to get, requiring you to sacrifice your first born child (and at least link back, which nullifies their value in some search engines.) But with link bait, you “bait” your content and sit back and wait. Of course, you can be a little proactive …

Link Bait Examples

Great content always serves as link bait. Breaking news often falls in that category, but so does an amazing ebook. A “How-to Guide” is another example.

Manners may buy you links. If you remember to thank your partners and competitors (or cite them), they will probably do the same for you, when the time arises.

Link bait could be a great gadget. All kinds of companies create calculators for specific purposes that become link bait. There are far too many mortgage calculators and “how much do you need to retire?” calculators, but how about a calculator that figures out what kind of reusable insulation you need in your steam room, based on pipe size? (Now that’s one of a kind, and is great bait.)

Link bait could be a widget. Widgets create a link from the site that uses it back to the site that created it – and there’s the link bait again.

Pictures are link bait, too. How about pictures on your blog of the latest industry event? You might even get links from your competitors, who want to show off their faces….